Carrington Title Services, LLC (Carrington), a national title agency with expertise in providing title insurance, settlement services and data products to the real estate community in connection with real estate purchases and mortgage refinances, as well as Real Estate Owned (REO), short sale and commercial transactions, has announced plans to sharpen its focus on managing the unique challenges of curative title.
To help ensure best-in-class service, particularly with regard to the highly-specialized work associated with curative title, Carrington has added three title industry veterans to its management team: Vice President of Title and Settlement Services Craig Marshall, Vice President of Legal Compliance Jack Kozak, and Manager of Curative Services Lesa Wachter. Marshall, Kozak and Wachter each bring to Carrington specific industry expertise that will help drive the company’s aggressive growth plans while assuring that customer expectations are met and the needs of local real estate agents are supported.
“In the wake of the housing crisis, title issues remain an ongoing challenge, with the most complex defects being lien position concerns, discrepancies or ambiguities in the property description, breaks in the chain of title, missing interest issues, and errors to or omissions from recorded documents,” says Steve Ozonian, Chief Real Estate Officer for Carrington Holding Company, LLC.
“Carrington’s ability to effectively determine whether the severity of such defects poses a threat to underlying securities and its proven track record of resolving such issues efficiently sets the company apart from others in the title and settlement industry. The combination of Carrington’s long history of successfully managing the complexities associated with distressed assets and its hands-on approach to unraveling even the most difficult title issues is crucial in terms of providing today’s customers with best-in-class title service.”
“With our diverse product line and expertise in national title and settlement services, Carrington is poised to expand in an ever-changing market, but is particularly focused on assuming the challenges associated with curative title—arguably the most difficult task the title industry faces in this time of recovery and one that the average title company is simply not as well equipped to take on,” says Carrington Title Services Senior Vice President Jim Potter. “With the expectation that Carrington will continue to be the go-to resource for customers requiring more specialized curative services, we are pleased to welcome Craig Marshall, Jack Kozak and Lesa Wachter to the Carrington management team, where their deep title and settlement-specific expertise will be instrumental to resolving the toughest of cases and facilitating Carrington’s future growth.”
As Vice President of Title and Settlement Services, Craig Marshall will hold responsibility for national title and settlement operations at our Plano, Texas operation. Marshall’s title-specific operational expertise supporting large financial institutions and his solid understanding of how to leverage technology to maximize efficiency will be key to optimizing Carrington’s diverse product menu and operational processes. Marshall joins Carrington from First American Mortgage Services, where he most recently served as Vice President and Director of Sales and Operations. Other previous positions include Senior Project Manager and Senior Client Relations Manager for First American Mortgage Services, and Escrow Branch Manager and Team Leader for First American Title Insurance. Marshall is a member of the Texas Land Title Association, and holds a Project Management Certification from Villanova University and a Six Sigma Greenbelt Certification.
Jack Kozak’s solid background in legal compliance, title underwriting and title operations will be instrumental in his role as Vice President of Legal Compliance, where he will be responsible for managing compliance and supporting the title examination process by working with Carrington’s title and curative departments to build best practices. A 20+ year veteran of the title and settlement industry, Kozak has served as underwriting counsel for several national title operations including Timios Inc., Lenders First Choice and Bridgespan Title Company.
Kozak holds a Juris Doctor with a concentration in Real Estate and Business Law from Case Western Reserve University School or Law in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, Texas Bar Association, Oklahoma Bar Association and Washington Bar Association, the Ohio State Land Title Association and the Texas Land Title Association.
As Manager of Curative, Lesa Wachter will manage the day-to-day operation of Carrington’s title curative department, which provides curative services to a range of clients including national originators, servicers and asset managers. Under Wachter’s direction, the department will also assist Carrington’s mortgage lending operation with clearing title to prepare refinance transactions for closing, as well as facilitating post foreclosure curative for the company’s in house trustee.
Wachter comes to Carrington with more than 20 years of experience in curative management, having overseen curative operations for major providers such as Lender Processing Services and First American Title. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Business Management from California State University, Fullerton.
For more information, visit www.carringtontitleservices.com.
